Easter Sunday celebrates Christ's victory over sin and death. This victory is directly and immediately the work of God, and Easter is therefore the day the Lord has made. The first creation of the world went astray; the re-creation of the world dawns on Easter when all is made new. "This is the day the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad" (Ps 118: 24).
The astonishment of the holy women at the tomb, of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, of the apostles who found the tomb empty gave way to joy in their meetings with the Risen Lord. "Jesus is Lord," they exclaim, and everything and everyone gets a second chance at everlasting life and eternal joy.
During the Easter Vigil, when the candle symbolizing Christ the light of the world is prepared and lit, the priest declares that all time and all the ages belong to Christ. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the fulcrum of history, the event that gives ultimate meaning to every time and age, to every lifetime and event.
Easter Sunday and Every Sunday
Easter enters into our time not only once a year; every Sunday becomes a celebration of the Lord's resurrection from the grave. Because of Christ's resurrection, Sunday becomes the Lord's Day; and it has been marked as such from apostolic times by all those who call Jesus "Lord."
In our time, the sense that Sunday is the Lord's day has waned as the weekend becomes more and more two days of personal time to be structured and passed as individuals choose to do so. We, not God, become the unique makers of time away from work. The demands of commerce and law have overtaken in our society the dynamics of faith, of family, of friendship. Our collective experience of time has changed.
I can still recall the discussion in the newspapers when I was in grade school about whether or not the law should be changed to permit stores to be open on Sundays. Few foresaw how changing a law for people's convenience would also change the mores of our entire society. How, then, is Sunday to be observed by Catholics now?
Offering the Sacrifice of the Lord
Since every Mass makes sacramentally present the risen body and blood of Christ, Catholics enter into the Paschal mystery by their participation in the celebration of the Eucharist each Sunday. The duty to worship God as he himself wants to be worshiped makes Mass attendance obligatory for every Catholic each Sunday. But attendance at Mass is only the minimum required in observing Sunday as the Lord's Day.
Keeping holy the whole day
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that: "Sunday is traditionally consecrated by Christian piety to good works and humble service of the sick, the infirm and the elderly. Christians will also sanctify Sunday by devoting time and care to their families and relatives… Sunday is a time for reflection, silence, cultivation of the mind and meditation which furthers the growth of the Christian interior life." (No. 2186). Perhaps a good gauge of our intention to keep Sunday holy is to ask whether or not Sunday dinner, preceded by grace before meals, remains a family tradition. The generous effort needed to prepare dinner, the cooperation in arranging everyone's help and participation, the invitation of relatives or close friends, the conversation before and after eating together all serve to create a different sense of time on Sunday.
Abstention from work
Obviously, those who must work on Sunday (doctors, nurses, police, firefighters and other emergency personnel, restaurant workers and the like) are permitted to do so; their family's livelihood demands it. But abstention from unnecessary and burdensome work or business is part of our celebration of the Lord's Day. Christ rose from the dead to bring us new life; Sunday should not be dominated by the demands of the old. Rest and leisure are signs of the freedom that God's grace brings. Busyness is a trap from which our faith should rescue us.
An added reflection on abstention from work might encourage a reconsideration of the place of organized sports on Sundays. Far from being leisure activities, organized sports can sometimes create enormous pressures on parents and children. Last year, the Presbyteral Council voted to avoid scheduling any parish sponsored sporting events on Sunday mornings.
The late Pope John Paul II wrote about celebrating the Lord's Day: "…the Lord's Day is lived well if it is marked from beginning to end by grateful and active remembrance of God's saving work. This commits each of Christ's disciples to shape the other moments of the day - those outside the liturgical context: family life, social relationships, moments of relaxation - in such a way that the peace and joy of the Risen Lord will emerge in the ordinary events of life."
My prayer is that all of us will taste again the joy of the resurrection this Easter. This year, to that prayer, I will add another that the peace and joy of the Risen Lord will mark every Sunday of our lives. Have a blessed Easter.
